12-'13 Concert Season
by Tenuto07
Summary: I miss the excitement of writing my stories, so we're back with concert season! It's definitely not as fun as marching season, but it'll have to do. I recommend reading the 2012 Marching Season story first, but it's not required. Rated T for band.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, readers! **

** Yep, I'm back with more excitement from the Charger band. I found out how much I actually miss writing about the band is. That's why I decided to write about the memorable times during concert/jazz band. I might write about our upcoming New York trip as well! I'm not going to write every day because 1) we know it's not going to happen and 2) not every day is interesting…**

** As usual, let's start!**

**11/1/12 Band Class**

Sam and I walked from GAP to the band room. She wasn't feeling well because she said her chest was hurting. This happens occasionally because it's just something that happens to her. Sam has Congenital Heart Defect (CHD), but it, by no means, slows her down at all. She can push through pain and that's something I admire her about.

I picked up my backpack, which was open because a certain _someone _went through it when they got bored (Yes, Jeremy, I'm talking about you) while I was WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concept Examination) testing. His Rammstein CD's were gone and I assumed he took them. Anyway, I walked to "My Corner" of the band room (which really isn't a corner) and set my things down. I walked back to Sam, who was sitting on her iPod on Twitter, with her usual quietness that occurs when things like this happen. I try not to get too involved in this because I don't want her to get mad at me for trying to do everything for her. I back off my distance a little bit and if she needs me, I'm here for her. Simple as that.

We both sat in silence as I heard Jeremy walk in. He threw his binder by the drum set and walked over to us. "Hey," he greeted us. He looked at Sam. "What's wrong, Sam?"

"I don't feel good," she mumbled, still staring at her iPod.

"What?" he asked. This child is deaf, I swear.

"I don't feel good," Sam repeated, not looking up.

"What?" Jeremy asked again.

"She doesn't feel good," I finally said in an irritated tone. Testing all morning and putting up with the GAP teacher really doesn't put me in a good mood.

"Oh," was all he said. I looked away from both of them as Jeremy bent down to sit next to us. We all sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Hey, Emily, can you help me set up chairs?" Kevin asked from across the band room. I was so glad he broke the awkwardness between the three of us.

"Sure!" I shouted to Kevin. Jeremy walked behind him to go help. "I'll be back, okay?" I tell Sam. She nods and I quickly join the boys in setting up chairs. When we make it to the HFAC (Hamilton Fine Arts Center, which is a really, really nice auditorium that can seat 720 people or something like that), we walked over to the garage. Kevin opened it and we all ducked under. The whole stage was dark. After slipping out to Kevin of my fear of darkness, (It's not that I'm afraid of the dark… it's what might pop out at you is the scary part) I was afraid he'd pop out at me from behind.

Jeremy had his tiny LED flashlight on him and I used my phone (Flashlight app!) to find our way across. We made it safely across and turned on the stage lights.

Kevin and I use teamwork to push the cart of chairs over. The drama club had things set up for their next play. There were a million wooden chairs set up, a table with fake fruit, and a bucket. I moved the chairs as Kevin and Jeremy took the table.

"Don't touch thine fruit," Mr. W said as he walked in and pointed to the table. We laughed as they carefully set the table down. The two boys pick up an empty glass and clink glasses. They look over at me and I let out a small smirk.

We continue to set up chairs when Jackson and Devin walk in with their girlfriends and a cart of stands. We set up the stands and I help Sam pull the marimba to the garage. I take the un-needed xylo back to lower band and walk back to the FAC to see if they needed anymore help. They didn't, but I decided to talk to Bea. "Think I could steal Ally's spot for the day?" I asked.

"Is she here?"

"Probably," I answered. Just then, Matt walked in with his oboe. "MATT! Can I be you for the day?" I asked hopefully in a joking tone.

"YES!" He said as he turned around and talked to his friend. I talked to Bea a little bit before walking to the percussion stuff. Sam looked a lot better than she did an hour ago, but I could tell she was still in pain. I watch her play _Farondole, _one of our concert songs for this year. It is really epic and everyone loves it. I comment on her playing. She's getting a lot better at reading music and playing the bells. It makes me proud.

"I should probably go now, have fun, okay?" I tell Sam.

"Tell Nick I found The Stool!" Sam said as we both laugh. The Stool is just a wooden stool like any other. The percussion and I always fight over it to sit on it. It's been through a lot, especially since our old one broke last year during concert season. It was pretty funny, especially knowing that part of it was my fault. It went something like this:

-Flashback to last concert season-

I was helping Jeremy set up the drum set. We were playing a Beetle's medley and he got the drum set part. "Can you get me a stool?" he asked me.

"Where?" I asked him, thinking of all the places a stool could be.

"It should be by the percussion stuff. Check around," he said. I ran off to go find a stool. When I got to the band room, the upper band was already warming up and tuning and such. I looked around, jumping over cases, backpacks (it was our last class last year), and chairs. I had three options of chairs for Jeremy: a. an actual drum set chair that spins. B. _The _Stool. Or C. A similar chair like _The _Stool but was already half broken. I was surprised that it hasn't broken yet. That would change in a few minutes.

Anyway, I couldn't find any stool for Jeremy. I asked around the percussion section. "Andrew, (Tenor, grad of '12) have you seen a drum set stool?" he shook his head. I asked Alex. He hasn't seen one, either. I asked Shannon (Percussion/Pit who quit this year) and she pointed to one. We both go over to the stool and she picks it up. When we reach the cafeteria, she hands it to me and I thank her. I set it down by the drum kit.

I turn and put my reed in my oboe. I tune with Niki for a few minutes when I turn around to the percussion. I leave for, like, three minutes and there's Jeremy behind the drum set lying on the floor on his back, the chair broken in pieces around him. My first reaction was, _oh my gosh, is he okay?! _On the bright side, he was laughing. That scene that I witnessed in just seconds made me burst into laughter along with him. I still feel responsible for it to this day. I think we _just_ threw that stool away, too.

-Unnecessary flashback over-

So, continuing, I find Nick walking with Sam L. down the FAC hallway. "Hey, Nick, they found _The _Stool!" I said. Nick smiles and says,

"_The _Stool? Finally!" he runs to the stage. I laugh with Marie behind me.

"Pff, percussionists," I say jokingly, knowing that we are both percussionists. Marie tied with Sam L. on her audition pieces. I, on the other hand, aced both my oboe and percussion audition with all last chair. It was depressing, but what can I do?

"Oh, I know, right?" Marie jokes with me. We both laugh and I get my oboe out. I take my spot next to Niki, who was passing out music for the whole lower band. She handed the oboe score to me. The cover read: Beethoven Menuette and Rondo. Well, this could be bad, especially because Mrs. C picked it out. She's also a fifth grade teacher at Lannon Elementary, so she tends to pick out songs for us that I could play back in seventh grade. I open the six page score and with a look of bewilderment.

"_This _is our music?" I turn to Conner L, a junior clarinet. He's not one to take band seriously, but he is a pretty good clarinet player for someone who doesn't try. If he would have tried a little harder, I think he would have at least made it up a little higher.

"I know, right? This is so easy!" he says as he starts playing it. Seriously, the song was all quarter notes and half notes. The rests were quarter rests and the song was in 3, 4. I swear, you could play this song in fifth grade and if you can count to three, you're okay! Jeez, Mrs. C, at least give us some kind of challenge. We're not fifth graders anymore.

"I'm going to work with the brass today," Mrs. C says as Niki takes her seat after passing out the music. "Since there are more woodwinds than brass, I'd like you guys to stay in here and work on music." We nodded as the brass went out into the hallway. "Section leaders, you are in charge!" Niki was my section leader, although my role as the pit leader somewhat applied. I wasn't allowed to take full charge, but since I'm older than most of this band, seniority took place as well.

Allie, a flute friend of mine, decided to conduct the warm-ups. She honestly isn't the best student conductor I've ever seen, and she's not afraid to admit that either, but I guess I have no say, since I took drum major courses last year (I don't know if I should call them "courses" but I have more experience than anyone in the lower band). My friends, Paul, Leah, and Devin were all my coaches (Paul, trumpet/DM, grad '12).

After warm-ups, as we promised, we played through the stupid song, me being the conductor. It was easy enough that I didn't exactly need an excessive amount of practice. I thought back to my lessons with Leah and Paul and Devin. Both my hands raised in the air above the giant clear plastic stand (which I was _really _disappointed that it wasn't glass after a dream I had where I punched a glass stand), I count off with my right and have my left join in.

We worked on this terrible thing that calls itself a song for half the class. After we figured out that a whole group wasn't working, Niki and I decided that low brass and reeds go off into the left corner. Sax's in a practice room, (which we got disapproving glares from a select few number of freshman) and the rest of us where we were. After we were all settled, I counted off and we began working. It sounded a lot cleaner without everyone else, but it still wasn't perfect.

About five minutes after we split up, the low brass and reeds pulled out a song and decided to work on it. I cut the woodwinds off and we all turned towards them. "Guys, what are you playing?" I ask them. Olivia turns around and says,

"We got bored of that piece of crap, so we're playing _Farondole _instead." Everyone agreed that this piece-of-crap song was getting old. I was with them.

"Okay, who wants to play _Farondole _instead?" I shout. They all cheer and I grab my score to read off of. I conduct the wonderful song and we had our best lower band run through of it ever. Mrs. C walked in a few minutes later, impressed by our work. A few minutes before the bell, I cut them off and excused them to pack up. It was one interesting day in lower band, but a fun one.

The bell rings and I pack my things up. We had a flip schedule today because of the testing, so Niki and I were headed to gym. I grab my health book, which Mr. D should be proud of me for having because it's been in my band locker since September, and head off to class with Niki.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello!**

**If you haven't read my first story already, entitled **_**2012 Marching Season, **_**you should do that! It's not required for this story, but you will understand the characters more. I am planning on putting a character list up soon, but it would make more sense to you if you read that first. Just putting it out there.**

**Anyway, if you haven't, I'll quickly explain the characters in the last chapter.**

**Sam G.- My best friend who has Congenital Heart Defect (or CHD because that's a big word). She pushes through pain like nobody's business and can put a smile on my face any day. Mr. W likes to call Sam, Jeremy and me the Three Musketeers when we're around him. She's a junior percussionist and plays bass 3 during marching season.**

**Jeremy N.- My other best friend who's just plain crazy. He's the best drummer I know and likes to go through my backpack when he gets bored. He gets me into all these different kind of bands and, like Sam, can make me smile and laugh when I need it. Jeremy is a junior percussionist and plays tenor during marching season.**

**Kevin J.- I've become better friends with this kid over the year. We've gone through piano courses together by locking ourselves in a practice room and using YouTube during lunch, we set up chairs together, and teach each other songs from time to time. He's pretty cool to me. Kevin is a junior clarinet.**

**Mr. W.- He's our band director and only the coolest teacher in the whole school. As hotheaded as he can get, Mr. W is kind and caring. He's good at cracking jokes too. I've had many adventures with him since my freshman year and he gets away with so many things that he probably shouldn't. All in all, Mr. W is really awesome and I couldn't ask for a better teacher.**

**Mrs. C.- She's a good person overall—don't get me wrong—but she's a pretty terrible conductor. She's also pretty oblivious about most things and it's easy to get away with a lot of things with her around. Mrs. C is actually very nice, but her conducting skills aren't the best.**

**Nick F.- He's a pretty cool guy. I've gotten closer to him this year. Nick is funny and nice. I don't really know what to say about him. Nick is a percussion/snare player and he is a junior.**

**Sam L.- Sam is probably the funniest guy in band and he's a great guy to be around. Sam can make any boring thing fun by just cracking one joke. He can **_**own **_**at the tenors and snare and he's a gifted percussionist. Sam is a senior.**

**Bea K.- Bea is my best friend and oboe buddy. She is amazing at the oboe and even got first chair in upper band in our freshman year. She's an oboe/color guard member and is a sophomore like me.**

**Matt S.- Matt is my freshman buddy. He's an excellent oboe player and only lost one point after Bea. He's pretty awesome for a freshman. Matt was in pit with me for marching season.**

**Okay, that was the longest intro, **_**ever. **_**I'm gonna cut to the story.**

**Band Class (11/3/12)**

After the longest week, ever with WKCE and such, today is a half day for the district! I happily walk down the hall with Sam as I pick up my backpack and put it in my corner. Usually, walking into the band room made me happy and today was one of those days. Today was a full band day. I especially loved full band days because I could be with my friends and get to play _Farondole. _

Since today was a half day, we had no lunch, so class started right away (well, if you could call it right away. You know, since its band, we don't start for another ten minutes or so). After everyone got settled in, Mr. W wanted Sam to pass out sheet music to everyone. I had the whole marimba to myself for warm ups. _It's just like marching season all over again, _I thought to myself. I smiled at the thought and began playing the opener with the end of my sticks.

We played through some warm ups when Sam handed me a stack of paper with the word "Oboe" on the top. The first song she handed me was _Born To Be Wild. _I looked over the score. It looked easy enough.

I forgot to mention that since Mr. W was so good with connections, he got Mark Wood to come to Hamilton. Mark Wood is the electric violinist of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. If you don't know who they are, you _seriously _need to YouTube them. We're going to be able to play with him in January. The whole band is psyched.

I read the board. It read in Mr. W's scribble for handwriting: Full band: warm ups, tune, Angels [From the Realms of Glory], _Farondole, Born to Be Wild _and _Carry on [My] Wayward Son._ Just then, Sam handed me another oboe score of _Carry on My Wayward Son. _I love this song.

We got through warm ups and tuning when we pulled out _Angels from the Realms of Glory. _Sam L. and I play this song together on vibes. We can rock this song. Sam, being his usual self, cracked some jokes to me that make the both of us laugh. After that song was over, we got to play the band's favorite, _Farondole. _

I sprinted to get my oboe out of my locker. I halfway opened it when I remembered that I forgot all of my reeds at home. I slid the lock back into place when I pinched my hand through the lock. I screamed at the pain and walked away angrily. I pull out the oboe score and play it on the xylophone. It's not the easiest song to pick up quickly, but it was still fun to play all of the scales.

We finally got to play some of the Mark Wood songs. We all pulled out _Born to Be Wild, _the percussion all having a flute or oboe part for mallets. Marie and I shared a xylophone. The song was very repetitive, so Marie, the percussion and I all picked up quickly.

After the song ended, Mr. W cut us off and we all packed up. I grabbed my art project and my personal copy of _The Mark of Athena _by Rick Riordan, and headed out of the room to go to art survey.

**I can agree that this was not as interesting; especially the part when I pinched my finger in my locker, but it was still a good day, somewhat. **

**Please support mine and Jeremy's (Is that even proper English?) band, Never Ending Apocalypse (Or NEA). He decided he wanted me as his keyboardist, so now I'm part of the band. YouTube our song-in-progress that has no title yet. **/ watch ? v = 0 **I really hope that works. If not, just YouTube it yourself if you want to listen.**

**I also don't own **_**The Mark of Athena. **_**All rights go to Rick Riordan and whatever publisher helped him. –Is too lazy to look- **

**I hope you enjoy my story so far! It's really fun to write about!**

**~Tenuto07**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hola, my fellow readers!**

** Today was most definitely an interesting day. We shall start… now!**

** A Not-So-Regular-Day/Band Class (11/8/12)**

I walked in the band room with Sam and Carl. We picked up our bags and I headed to my corner. I put some things in my bag and headed over to Sam. She walked over to the marimba and played _Heart and Soul (_If you don't know that song… well, look it up because I'm sure you'd know it if you heard it). Anyway, Sam played the main beat while I played the melody. Mr. W absolutely hates this song (for some sort of odd reason that nobody knows).

If you've never walked through a giant stage in the dark alone, don't try it.

After I gave up playing the repetitive song, Kevin got the keys and we both headed towards the HFAC. I opened the garage and turned on the flashlight app. I shined the flashlight across the surprisingly empty stage (The drama club uses it also, so we were surprised to find it cleaned up). I was alone, walking in the dark, when halfway to the light switch; Kevin started banging on the door. I jumped at the noise.

There are many stories from students saying that there is a ghost haunting the stage. People say there is a man who walks above the rafters and whispers things. I never heard him personally, but remembering this as I walked to the door to turn on the light made my heart beat a little faster. Thank god I had Kevin on the other side and Jeremy following behind me. I turned on the light and opened the door for Kevin. "I had a pretty good beat going on there!" Kevin exclaimed as he walked through the door with his clarinet and music. He set it by Mr. W's soon-to-be podium and we got the chairs out.

"How many in each row?" I asked him.

"Twelve, thirteen, fifteen, six," he answered as he pointed to each row that Eric started setting up (clarinet, junior). Soon, Jackson and Eric walked in with the stand carts. "Let's play a prank on Mr. W!" Kevin exclaimed. "One of these stand carts has a shitty stand. Let's give it to Mr. W!" We all agreed on this idea and tried to find the crappiest stand. A little while later, Kevin found one. "Got it!" he exclaimed while making it even looser. He set it by the soon-to-be podium. A few minutes later, Jackson found another one that was even crappier.

"One of these things is not like the other. One of these stands is wobbly as hell!" he sang as we all burst out laughing. Kevin and Jackson switched out the stands. Soon, Alex and Sam L. came charging in. Alex was chasing Sam around. Sam looped behind the chair cart as Alex tried to catch up with him. Sam sprinted away in the direction of their entrance and did an epic leap over the carts that we kept the timpani on during marching season. Through the door, I could see Alex tackle Sam to the ground. I walked over to see if he was okay with a smile on my face.

"Are you okay, Sam?" he was laughing at the same time he was trying to catch his breath. Alex helped him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam reassured me. The three of us were smiling as Ben came running in with a wooden clapper and shook it right under Sam's legs. He then sprinted out and we all burst out laughing. This child is an odd one, I can tell you. "I started choking on my Doritos!" Sam said and we laughed some more.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"I stole Alex's backpack," Sam said.

"Yeah, so I was chasing him around for this whole time," Alex said. We all laughed and I left them to their own thing. I walked over to Sam to play _Heart and Soul. _I played with her for a while when the rest of the upper band walked in. Jeremy kept a steady beat with the drum kit he brought in. Kevin was playing rainbow notes (AKA random notes when you don't know them). Soon, I dropped the mallets and told Sam I had to leave.

During lower band (although Mr. W claims there is no lower band, but a "full band," but I beg to differ), I was almost late as everyone was already seated. I pulled out my reed case, oboe, and folder and take a seat next to Niki and Conner. We played through warm-ups. "I want you to work on _Menuetto and Rondo_, okay?" Mrs. C said. I groaned and pulled out the song.

"Oh, this is the quarter note song!" Conner exclaimed as Niki and I burst out laughing.

"Morgan, I want you to conduct!" Mrs. C said as she handed Morgan the baton (Flute, Junior, Carl's sister).

"Umm, okay then," Morgan reluctantly agreed as she stepped onto the podium and the brass walked out to the hallway. When they all left, it took some time to get the rest of the band to listen. Finally, Morgan convinced them that the sooner we got this done, the sooner we could move onto _Farondole. _We played through the quarter note song and moved onto _Farondole. _It wasn't as clean as the time I conducted, but it was still pretty good.

It was getting closer to pack up time, but Morgan insisted we played at measure 86 and end at 94. Soon, the whole class procrastinated enough that we just packed up. I sighed in disappointment, just because that was my favorite part. I put everything away and waited for Sam to walk in. I didn't see her, so I ran to the stage. She and Sam L. were talking. I grabbed the drum stool from Samantha and we all walked out together. Right as I walked in the back doors, I saw Mr. W wave goodbye to Mrs. C as he quickly walked out of the room. I put the stool down by the kit and helped Samantha put the marimba away. "Where's Mr. W?" she asked.

"I just saw him walk out," I said. "He's not out of the building, but not here. He looked like he was in a rush," I answered. Sam nodded and we went to go grab passes from Mrs. C.

"Where's Mr. W?" Sam asked her as she wrote out a pass for her.

"Oh, he's subbing for a class!" Mrs. C said.

"Wait… Mr. W actually _left _the band room to go sub?" I asked, astonished. This was news. We all laughed as she wrote me out a pass.

"Yeah, it's crazy! We just ran out of passes… I guess you're staying in the band room for the rest of your life!" Mrs. C said and I laughed.

"Actually, I wouldn't really mind that," I said. Come to think of it, I don't think I could live there for the rest of my life without leaving, but I pretty much live there already. We searched for passes as the final bell rung and she decided to write my pass on a Post-It note instead. I waved goodbye and walked with Sam to our fourth block. I waved goodbye to Sam as I walked away with my linoleum art project. _I wonder if the sub will even take this make-shift pass… _I thought to myself. I turned the corner and walked in the room. My mouth opened as I saw our teacher.

"Oh… My… Gosh…"

**Art Survey (Fourth Block)**

You know it's an interesting class when your band director is your art teacher.

I walked into the art room while handing my pass to Mr. W. "This is my pass from Mrs. C," I said. Mr. W smiled and said,

"Oh, you're in this class, too?" I laughed and nodded. The class was consisted of a lot of freshman, two sophomores including me, one junior, and the rest are seniors. He took the sticky note from me and I tried to find a seat. I took Breanna's (Sophomore, guard girl) seat and pulled out my phone to text Sam.

**Me: **Dude Mr. W is subbing for my class!

Seconds later, I got a response from her.

**Sam: **No way! What'd he say?

**Me: **"'Oh, you're in this class, too?'" I stopped texting and moved next to Joanna, a freshman guard girl. Apparently nobody wanted me to sit at their table, so I said, "Fine, I'll just sit here next to Chris!" Chris is a senior. He's extremely quiet and really funny. He let out a smile and I pulled up a chair next to him. A girl named Danny and Breanna joined us.

"Okay, ladies and gentleman grab your sketchbooks if you haven't already and Nikki (Senior, teacher's assistant or T.A.) will pass out a worksheet that goes with a video we are watching. Turn your bodies towards the television!" he pointed to the tiny and old T.V. mounted on the wall. There were three different remotes sitting on the front table. He picked one up and tried to get the T.V. to work. A few seconds later, he said, "This is what we call modern technology, people!" I and some of the class let out a light laugh. Nikki handed me a video worksheet and I stared at it. It read: 1. Write four things you learned from this video. 2. How does this relate to your life? 3. Draw a picture of something that stood out to you in this video. 4. Ask a question or something you disagree with from the video.

I let out a sigh and watched Mr. W try to work the T.V. He finally got it and there showed a picture of the ancient Greek temple of Athena. I looked at my sheet and then back at the screen. I set my head down and fell asleep.

Someone poked my arm and I instantly jolted awake. "What, did you fall asleep?" Breanna asked. I laughed and nodded. She gave me her sheet and told me I could take two of the four answers from the first question. I drew a picture of Athena's temple and half-assed my way through the fourth question. I skipped the second question and screwed over the rest of the sheet.

When the movie was over, Mr. W turned the T.V. off and told us to open our sketchbooks to a clean page and number it 1-25. "Write down twenty-five of your favorite things in the whole entire world. Have Nikki or me check six of them off and draw six thumbnail sketches of it," he said. I opened my sketchbook and slowly filled out my list.

Music

Art

Family

Friends

Books

Video games

Anime

Manga

Food

YouTube

The internet

Wolf

Summer

Rain

Band

Front Ensemble

Drumline

Zelda

Assassin's Creed

Blue

Iced tea

Hot chocolate

Katie (senior friend)

Jeremy

Sam

I handed the list to Mr. W. He looked over it and checked off books, manga, wolf, front ensemble, Zelda, and Sam. "Onto the thumbnail sketches…" I sighed. For books, I drew a book. For manga, I drew a square that said _Soul Eater _on it. For a wolf, I drew a pathetic looking wolf that looked like an angry cat. For front ensemble, I drew a picture of a xylo. For Zelda, I drew the Triforce. And for Sam, I drew a head with her parted hair, a neck, her regular ponytail, two dots for eyes, a nose and a mouth. It was like a cartoon version of Sam. I smiled at the picture and put my piece of linoleum away.

Class ended in five minutes. We all put up our chairs and watched as a senior named Kenny clean off a table. This art class isn't just used for art survey, but ceramics as well, so the room is always dusty. As Kenny took a wet piece of paper towel, he wiped the table down, only watching it dry back to its original, dusty state. In frustration, Kenny threw down the towel and grabbed a sponge. "I'm not letting you leave, Kenny, until this table is clean!" Mr. W said. We all laughed as the sponge, soap, and water finally worked.

"See, I could never be a teacher," Nikki said as she watched Kenny clean.

"But yeah, see, the thing is about this, I'm just putting myself into a hole because I can't leave until he cleans up," Mr. W answered as Nikki and I laughed. The rest of the class lined up at the door. "This room is so dirty. It's all full of junk and such," he said. Talk about yourself, Mr. W. Have you seen your band room?

"I know! But it's an art room; I suppose it's only going to be this messy," Nikki answered. We laughed and I said,

"Mr. W, I have a C+ in band. Can you explain why?"

"Well how did that happen?" he asked.

"Apparently in the grade book, I have two missing sectionals."

"Oh, yeah, those are just put in the grade book. There are no grades in yet. What else could it be?"

"Well, I didn't turn in my marching band evaluation…" I said.

"That's it!" Mr. W said.

"Can I still turn it in?" I asked him.

"Yeah, sure, just give it to Mrs. C," he said. There are no such things as late assignments in band.

"Cool," I said as the bell rang and I headed towards the band room.

Today was most definitely an interesting day.

**Thanks for bearing through this unbelievably long chapter… Even I'm tired from writing it! Well, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed class. See you for the next one!**

**~Tenuto07**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi!**

**It's been a while. I'm still going to post today although my week has been pretty much hell. I've had a horrible week, guys. -_-**

**I might as well start… Nothing really interesting happened in these past few weeks, just saying. **

**Lunch and Band Class (11/30/12)**

Neither Sam nor Chong was there to accompany me to lunch. Chong did his chair challenge and wanted Sam to be there. He gets extremely nervous during auditions and likes having Sam around with him. One ear bud in my ear listening to _Take it out on Me, _by Thousand Foot Krutch, I anxiously wait for the bell to ring and walk out the door alone.

When I reach the band room, I slowly walk in and set my things down in my corner. Jeremy quickly followed through the doors as he threw his red binder by his backpack and pulled out his drumsticks to start hacking on the side of the xylophone. I spot Kevin, who was making his way towards Mr. W's office, trying to get the keys to the HFAC. Since the weird schedule this week with the jazz band, yesterday and today are split band.

I walk towards Kevin, who sighed in disappointment as he peered into Mr. W's office. "He's not there?" I asked him quietly. Kevin shakes his head.

"Nope, guess we'll have to wait," he says as we walk towards Sam, who was playing the marimba. It's been a hard week for both of us—I really haven't gotten to talk to her all week. We've just had so much on our mind lately it was driving me insane. I felt so lonely without her.

One thing that does keep all of us together, though, was music (although sometimes I feel like band tears slowly tears apart some friendships). Sam "so generously" invited me to play Mr. W's most hated song: _Heart and Soul_. I rolled the cord up to my iPod and graciously took the mallets. Through the whole week, this moment was the most fun I've had.

The guys, Jeremy and Kevin, were our "Mr. W watch-out." If they saw him, they'd tell us. Sam recorded us, when Alex, a trombone walked up to listen to us. Alex, not to be mean or anything is really annoying. Today, for instance, decided to put both hands on the marimba where I needed to play to finish the song.

_Nobody _stops a percussionist from finishing (Unless you're talking about your BD… that's a different story).

I was very tempted to hit his hand, which I should have; that's what he gets for ruining a recording. "Alex," Sam said harshly, "Move your hand!" He hesitated before I almost slammed the mallet down. Just in time, he moved his hand.

We finished the song with Alex complaining. "You know," I whispered loudly to Sam as the guys turned around and Mr. W walked through the door, "if he didn't like it, why is he even in here for lunch?"

"Yeah, I don't get it either," Sam answers. Kevin and I retrieve the keys from Mr. W and make our way with Eric S. to the HFAC. We reach the drafty hallway when I stand behind Kevin as he opens the garage.

"Look at my magic!" Kevin exclaims. "Don't mind the electronics…" he adds as I laugh. I watch him pretend he has magic abilities as he lifts the garage without touching it. When we get inside, Eric pulls the chair cart in while Kevin jumps around on the stage. I pull out my phone to turn on the lights. When I reach the lights, I see Eric and Kevin looking at the taped X's on the ground. "This is Mr. W's podium," Kevin says as I look at the X's.

"Why not this one?" I point to another one on the ground.

"Because this one is centered!" Kevin shouts at me jokingly as the three of us burst out laughing. Eric goes to open up the backstage doors while Kevin hides behind the wall next to the garage to scare Jeremy, who was coming in with a bass drum. "Shhh…" he puts his hands up to his lips and I smile and nod. I could first see the bass drum and a glimpse of Jeremy before Kevin jumps out at him and shouts, "BOO!"

Jeremy, startled, takes the mallet that was in his hand and slams it on the bass drum head. I burst out into laughter and go to grab a stand cart that was sitting in the hallway. Once we get all the chairs and stands set up, I hang around for a while when Mrs. C walks through the doors. More students start to enter as the lunch bell rings. "Hello, Emily!" Mrs. C says happily as I greet her back. When the whole upper band comes in, I leave to go to lower band before Mr. W kills me.

I spot Alex and Ben talking to each other about Alex's "backpack abuse." I grab my oboe out of my locker while saying jokingly, "why are all of you so mean to Alex?"

"I don't know! They're all bullies!" Alex says as he shoves the rest of his granola bar into his mouth.

"Isn't it against school rules to have your backpack?" I asked, thinking about the school code.

"Yep," Alex says with a smile.

"Pff, not that anyone follows it anyways," I say and we both laugh. If I were to walk around school, I could spot at least ten people with backpacks during passing time. Alex leaves to go to the HFAC as I walk to my chair, only to be stopped by Niki. She hands me some oboe music for our Mark Wood concert, labeled _Led Royalty. _I feel the thickness of the paper and sit down, showing Mr. W my oboe case. "Look, Mr. W, my oboe is fixed!" I exclaim. It was broken ever since the end of marching season. I've had my oboe since seventh grade, when I decided to buy it. I've never taken it in before now, so I was happy to have it back.

I set down the new music on the stand. Niki quickly takes a seat next to me and puts together her oboe. "Take out the Grand Master Scale!" Mr. W tells us. Everyone in band hates this particular scale. It is every known scale (besides the chromatic) put together in one piece. I pulled out my partly labeled copy and set it in front of our folders. Mr. W conducts us and after the scale (Which was my personal major fail) tells us to pull out _Led Royalty. _I put page one on the left and the rest on the right. I flip through each page. I stopped at around six.

Mr. W raised his baton and cues us to start. The whole band did a major fail three notes in. Everyone burst out laughing, including Mr. W. "_How _did you guys manage to mess that up?" Mr. W shouted at us with a grin across his face. "They're only eighth notes!" It was true; the song wasn't as hard as we all thought it was. Mr. Waite decided to slow the song down even more. He conducted us again as we ran though the song for the billionth time. "Do you guys know who Led Zeppelin is?" Mr. W asked us, putting his arms down from his conducting.

"No, nope," the band answered him. Everyone burst into laughter and Niki said,

"Mr. W, would you like to give us a demonstration?"

"Yeah, do you think you could sing it for us?" I asked as Niki and I had a smile on our faces.

"_No," _Mr. W said firmly and then smiled. He conducted us again until the double bar.

Mrs. C walked in from the upper band as Mr. W left us to join them. She picked up where we left off. After our major fail, we convinced her to let us pack up ten minutes early. "I know you guys have to clean up chairs and stands… but don't you think ten minutes is a lot of time?" she thought out loud.

"No, Mrs. C, the guard is consisted of twenty-seven people and when we clean up, it takes us at least twenty minutes," Niki said.

"I know there are a lot of us, but there's extra chairs and stands lying around!" a lot of the students mentioned.

"I suppose," Mrs. C said as she stepped off her podium and let us clean up. We all cheered as I took mine and Niki's chair. Eric T, being the "nice" person he is, gladly took the chairs out of my hand and stacked them.

"Why, thank you, Eric," I said with a grin and gave him more chairs to stack. We had around three minutes left of class when we cleaned the floor up. There were popped balloons everywhere. Wednesday was Mr. W's birthday and Sam, Emma, Niki and I all contributed to a poster, around eighty-five balloons and streamers decked out everywhere. To top it off, Sam got her iPod to play an orchestra version of _Heart and Soul._ The graduates told us to constantly annoy him. What's a better way?

The upper band students came strolling in as the bell rang. I spotted Jeremy and Sam with percussion instruments. I didn't want to be late for class, but I wanted to talk to Sam at the same time. She looked busy, though, because she ran out of the room to grab more instruments. My heart sunk and I walked out of the band room alone.

**It sounds more depressing as it should be, but I was kinda depressed all last week. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this not-so-interesting chapter! I'm still waiting for something interesting to happen. I'm also working on a character chart. **

**Stay tuned for more chapters!**

**~Tenuto07**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi!**

**It's been a while. I've actually started writing chapters and ended up not finishing them. Well, it's the last week of school before Christmas break! The week has been dragging on forever, seeing as it is only Tuesday. So, I've had one hell of an interesting day. I had a gut feeling that something was going to go wrong. I'm just going to put it that way. **

**Let's start!**

**Lunch/Band (12/18/12)**

I sling my backpack over my shoulder and head out of GAP with Sam. I desperately needed to finish my Art Survey project and help with some stage set up. The 8th graders were having their concert tonight, so the stage was set up for the second week in a row. Mine and Kevin's work was done.

I walk into the band room while fidgeting around with my wire 3D model of my chair. For art, I had to draw a chair and build a 6" model. I forgot about it at the last minute, so this morning I grabbed some wire and ran out the door. My chair model was four bass mallets as legs, a marching snare as the seat, marching tenors for the back and two snare marching sticks holding it up. This morning during advisement, Sam brought a broken stick and we had Nick snap it in half with much effort. I currently have millions of wood pieces in a brown bag. So far, my project is going downhill.

Anyway, I shove the brown bag in my pocket and go with Jeremy to the stage. Mr. W opened the stage doors for us and I walked into the already-bright HFAC. I sprawled out onto the floor as I tried twisting the wire with my fingers. The edge was poking at my skin, which hurt, but I kept messing with the horrible looking drums. When I heard Jeremy finally set up the kit (My indication was he was playing it, so that was what I assumed), I walked over to him and propped myself onto a chair in front of him. I finally finished my tiny chair model and set it on the ground. The whole entire thing collapsed. I gave up, put it away and watched Jeremy play the kit. "Guess who's not coming to school on Friday?" he asked.

"You?" I asked. I assumed he was going to a concert or something.

"Yep!" he said happily as he started playing another beat on the kit.

"How come?"

"Apparently, there's going to be a school shooting," Jeremy said. I stared at him blankly (Oh, might as well say this now, my thoughts and prayers are going out to the victims of the CT shooting).

"What?!" I asked him.

"Yeah, you didn't hear?"

"No!" I said as I thought this through. I wonder if Sam knew. I had to ask her. Soon, the bell rang and I headed out before stopping by Sam, who was playing on the marimba. "Sam, did you hear about the shooting on Friday?"

"Yes! Emily, I don't wanna go to school!" Sam whined as we both laughed. I left as I got my oboe out. I had everyone scoot a chair down so I can sit, also. Mrs. C was conducting us in the grand master scale and _An Old English Carol. _We played through the song as I walked to the percussion section and got out a pair of cymbals. I put one on my hand and another on my friend, Alex W (Alex in this case is a girl). I gave her a mallet as I played my suspended cymbal part and we crashed super loudly at the end. Mrs. C wanted to have Morgan conduct, so she left the room as Morgan conducted _Farandole. _At the end of class, Jeremy walked up to me and said,

"Hey, I can't drive you home tonight, but I can drop you off at school." Right, there was band buddies tonight. It's a program where we're aloud to work with the 5th graders. In the Hamilton School District, 5th grade is the grade you start out with instruments. So, in my case, I've been playing oboe for 5 ½ years. Tonight, we're going caroling.

"That's fine by me," I said, remembering that every Tuesday he has drum lessons.

"Pit orchestra is cancelled tonight, also," he said.

"Okay," I said as I put my oboe away and grab my bag. I give him the directions off of Map Quest and we walk out the door together.

**Our Attempt at Band Buddies**

It was after school and I rushed out of art survey. I get into the band room and packed my bags. It was the first snowfall of the year and the snow was coming down hard. Jeremy and I wanted to get past the busses and drive against the snow. Miranda walked in, who was giving a ride to Sam, when Jeremy asked her, "So, where do we meet when we get there?"

"Sign in at the front lobby and then go to their band room," Miranda said as Jeremy asked for my phone. He called his mom and we headed out the door. I put my hood up (which did absolutely nothing… the snow was blowing at my face) and we speed walk to his car, which was all the way in the student lot (It's a really far walk…). We walked through cars and snow. I almost got hit by a car that was backing up when Jeremy put his arm in front of me.

"He can't see us," Jeremy said as the back windshield wipers were clearing out all the snow. It's really great to know that Jeremy always has my back. I trail behind him, sometimes running a few steps. I'm kind of short for my age and he's kind of tall to average for his age… so it's only natural that he walks faster. When we get to his car, he unlocks the door and I step in, setting my backpack on the ground and stepping in after that. He takes a brush and brushes off some snow on the windows. When he was done, he threw the brush in the back seat and gets in the car, shoving the key into the engine. "Pick any song on my iPod, I don't care."

I pick up his iPod and scroll through his song list. He's got a billion songs, or so what it seems like. I wanted to listen to some Crown the Empire, but I also wanted to listen to something else. I scrolled until I saw the band, Muse, pop up. I scrolled through their song list and picked _Resistance. _We drove out of the student lot and swerved to the front of the building. We were driving down the road at a three-way intersection, when Jeremy hit the gas pedal. "Oh, shit!" he shouted. I guess he knew it before I did, because before we knew it, we went from the icy road to the ditch across the street. He narrowly missed the electrical pole behind us and drove forward. Jeremy hit the brakes and put the car into park. "Fuck, give me your phone," Jeremy said as I tugged my phone out of my pocket and put in the password.

"Who are you calling?" I ask quietly.

"My mom," he said as he and his mom had an argument over the phone. After they hung up, he asked me,

"Do you have Sam L's number?"

"No,"

"You have Samantha's, though," he said, hopefully.

"She doesn't have her phone," I said as I remembered her and Mr. W's bet. She betted with him that she could go a whole school week without her phone, iPod and tablet. Mr. W doesn't think she can, but I know she can.

"Well, fuck," Jeremy said. "Have anyone else's number that's in this thing?"

"Wish I knew who was in it," I said as I thought through my contacts. A few second later, I slam my fist down on the arm rest of the door. "I have Niki's number!... Sorry," I apologize for slamming my hand on his car. We dialed Niki's number as Jeremy put the phone up to his ear.

"Hey, Niki!" Jeremy said.

"Wait… Jeremy?" Niki asked as I could hear her over the phone.

"Yeah, where are you and Nick?" he asked. "We spun out in a ditch." By this point, I could only hear Jeremy's side of the conversation. "In front of the school… yes, Niki, the _only _car in the ditch…" I smirk and let out a light laugh. He does, also. "Okay, Niki, bye."

"Well?" I ask hopefully.

"My mom is coming with her truck, although I want to know what the hell her plan is to get us out," Jeremy answered. We were silent for a while, the only sound being the heating system. A few minutes later, he shut that off, as well. We both laugh at the complete, utter silence. He turned to me. "You wanna try getting out?" There was a small smile on his face. I grinned and said,

"Do you want to?" He put one hand on the wheel and another on the control pad (or whatever the hell it's called, I don't drive). Jeremy put it into drive as he steps on the gas. It turns out we were stuck.

"Well, that explains that," Jeremy said as he turns off the engine and parks the car. He pulled out his iPod and scrolled through the list.

"_Seize the day, or die regretting the time you lost…" _M. Shadow's voice rang out in his car. We both let out a laugh.

"It fits!" Jeremy said as we both had smiles on our faces. _Yeah, but we're not dying. _I thought. It's been about a good fifteen minutes when a cop car pulls up.

"Oh, great," I said as Jeremy rolls down his window.

"Are you two okay?" the sheriff asks. I bend over a little bit to see him.

"Yeah, we're fine. My mom's coming to help us," Jeremy answers for the two of us.

"Okay, that's good. I'm going to go help some people up the road. The same thing happened to them, too," the sheriff said as we waved us goodbye and drove up the street (It just so happens that the person who spun out was Marie's older brother, Joe).

"I'm going to laugh if the person who spun out was Nick," Jeremy said as I laughed.

"I think Niki would have called us, by then," I answered.

"Why would she call us?"

"I don't know. Just a thought," I said.

After what seemed like forever, a red truck pulled up. Jeremy got out of the car to see his mom. He returned with gloves on and he handed his mom the keys. "How are you?" his mom asked me as she stepped into the car.

"I'm good, you?" I asked.

"I'm good. Now let's get this car out of here," she said as she turned the key and looked at the ditch. "Do you see how the road bumps? That's how you guys are stuck. Now where the hell are the hazard lights?..." She mumbled to herself. It took me a while to figure out what hazard lights were. She took a hold of the wheel and drove us out of the ditch and onto the road. "See, I got it. Now where are those hazard lights?" she said as we both looked at the board of buttons. I pointed to an orange triangle.

"Is that it?" I ask as she presses the button.

"Thank you," she says as I could see Jeremy running after us in the rearview mirror. He got into the car and pulled off his gloves.

"Do you by chance know where the hazard lights button is?" he asked as I pointed to it. Jeremy turned them off.

"We're not going to Lannon, are we?" I ask. There was only a little bit of time left before it ended.

"No, I'm bringing you home," he said as we drove home. We got to a roundabout as he asked, "What way?" I pointed left.

"That way."

"You can't just point your finger and say that way! Give me directions!" he snapped.

"Sorry, go left," I said quietly.

"Sorry for snapping at you. It's just that after what happened, I'm trying to be cautious as fuck," he apologized as we drove home.

"It's alright," I said. When we arrived at my house, I grabbed my backpack.

"See you later," he said.

"No more driving into ditches, you got that?" I said. We both smiled.

"Don't worry, I won't," he said.

"You better not," I told him. "See ya." I shut the car door and opened the garage as I watched him back out and leave.

**So, I do realize that my whole "getting stuck in a ditch" story was longer than band itself… but oh well, we didn't do anything anyways. It turns out after Jeremy dropped me off; he hit a stop sign and spun out, **_**again.**_** I don't think he's driving much this winter anymore. Oh, well, we're both okay.**

**Tomorrow is our concert! Hopefully, I'll have something to say about that! **

**Stay tuned for whenever!**

**~Tenuto07**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, my fellow bandies! **

**It's been a while and I hope you had a great Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and a Happy New Years! Unfortunately, Hamilton got some extremely tragic news about a wonderful senior named Aaron who committed suicide. It's been a hard few weeks and everyone, especially the seniors, was heartbroken. R.I.P. Aaron, we all love you.**

**Moving on to something less tragic, I bring you back the Charger band! It's great to be back with the family after a week and a half. Let's start before I forget everything!**

**Today we had the Mark Wood (former violinist of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra) come and play with us today. "Fun" is an understatement.**

**Disclaimer (just in case): I do not own **_**Finale, The Lord of the Rings, Set it Off, and whatever else I mentioned with a copyright on it. They all belong to their rightful owners. **_

**Mark Wood Rehearsal, Day One (1/8/13)**

Matt Oboe and I walked down to the band room after explaining to my Comm. Arts class where I was leaving to. I was anxious to meet Mark Wood and his family (especially his son, Elijah. I think he's so adorable). As I walked through the doors, I threw down my notebook and my copy of Becca Fitzpatrick's, _Finale. _I fell to the floor to grab my oboe and music. I was headed onto stage when I stopped by Mr. W. "Do we need to go on stage yet?"

"No, not yet," Mr. W said as I followed him back into the band room and dropped my oboe case back onto the floor with the music. I waved to sophomore tuba Matt (we have two tubas. They're both named Matt. Coincidence?) And walked onto the stage anyway. The first person I noticed was Sam L. I walked in and found myself just steps away from the world famous violinist, Mark Wood. I looked around to find Elijah, but I couldn't find him anywhere (seriously, I think I'm in love with him or something). I saw a two or three students crowd around Mark and I walked up to them. I stood next to Jeremy as we carried on a conversation about tech stuff. Jeremy told me that when our band gets really big, we're going to play with pyro effects.

"Hi, how are you?" Mark asked me as he set a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm good, how are you?" I answered politely. He didn't answer and started rambling on about tech stuff again.

Well, this is awkward.

Anyway, Mark told us to set up stands and chairs, so Jeremy, Niki, Sam and I started to set up chairs. I take that back; Jeremy, Niki and I set up chairs. Sam was our "supervisor" and made sure the chairs still worked. "The chairs still work, Sam," Niki joked as the four of us started laughing. She protested against our valid statement and continued to sit on chairs. I set a chair down and a white light shined in my eyes.

"Ow, bright light," I said as I shut my eyes and looked away. Jeremy burst into laughter and imitated me. "Ah, shut up, Jeremy," I said with a laugh as we continued to set up chairs. The four of us gathered around Mark again after setting up chairs. More students walked in.

"Hello, what do you play?" he asked Sam.

"I'm in percussion," she answered with a smile. He moved to Niki.

"How about you?"

"I play oboe," Niki said.

"Oboe, wow, nice!" Mark answered. He continued to talk to us until Kelsey (Senior, flute) and a few of her friends told us to set up stands. "Who is this lovely lady?" he asked while he took Kelsey's hand. "I love the nail polish!"

"I'm Kelsey," she said. "Thank you!"

"No problem; now why don't you guys help these lovely ladies set up stands?" Mark suggested as Sam L. came by and said,

"We're here to help the lovely ladies with the stands!" the small group burst out laughing as we set up stands around us.

As more band students came in, they all piled in and sat down. I went to the back to grab more stands for the sax's when I saw Elijah at his laptop. I wanted to say hi, but he looked busy. Finally, I jumped over my chair to sit down. It turns out I was sitting next to Devin and Niki. The chairs were very close to each other, due to the fire code. We were cramped, but we didn't mind. The HFAC is normally cold, so having all of this, plus lights, makes me a lot warmer.

I turned around, taking a good glance at the setup. There were the trombones behind us, followed by the tubas and bari, and finally the percussionists. Elijah's red drum set was on a stand with a billion fans around, under, and behind him. The trumpets, followed by altos and the flutes were on the opposite side of us. Mark stood in the middle of the aisles. He had a microphone in his hand and his violin on a violin stand.

Once everyone settled down, he started talking. "Hello, everyone, I'm Mark Wood and that on the drums is my son, Elijah!" People started clapping and cheering. "Remember, you are not playing random black dots. You are playing music!" he said into the mic.

"I don't know what you're playing, but _I'm _playing the oboe," Niki joked as Devin and I burst out laughing.

"Now, let's look at my lovely sections! We have the clarinets!" he shouted over the mic, expecting a loud response. They all looked at each other, confused and cheered quietly. We all burst into laughter. "We have the flutes!" there were loud screams from them, considering there were twenty-seven of them (I think; it's over twenty). "We have the saxs!" Cheers erupted from all of the saxs. Devin, who was playing tenor, screamed out of nowhere. I covered my ears and laughed. He went over every section, except for the oboes. Great, even a world famous musician forgets about us. I don't know if I should be surprised or not.

Anyway, we pulled out our music and ran through some. Mark put his violin strap on, while Niki, Devin, and I gazed at him in awe about the violin strap. "Okay, that is the coolest thing, ever!" Niki said over the roar of the band. Devin and I laughed.

"He's, like, saying, 'I have a violin with a strap, so fuck you, that's what,'" Devin said as we burst into laughter. "So, his son is named Elijah Wood, just like the actor who played Frodo from _The Lord of the Rings. _Frodo disappeared and, like Elijah, is also gone! Coincidence?!" The people around us burst into laughter.

We played through some music (sorry, it's been all day and I legit forgot what happened in the beginning). Once we got to _Carry on my Wayward Son, _my embouchure was hurting like crazy. The drumline was standing way in the back, but Elijah tended to drown them out with his magnificent drum set.

"Wait…" Mark finally realized. "Are these drums portable?" he asked. The whole band burst into laughter as we looked at the fully-strapped-on-harness-and-all drumline.

"Yes," Mr. W said with a smile on his face. "They can move."

"Great! Why don't we have you guys down in the audience and get them moving?" Mark suggested. "Do you think you guys can walk and play?"

Wait a minute.

"Did he _seriously _just ask the drumline if they can walk and play?" Devin asked Niki and me as we burst into laughter. I lightly hit Devin's leg playfully, saying,

"We need to show him our marching shows!" The three of us burst into laughter and watched the drumline walk around. I could see Sam in the distance. Her face looked paler than usual and I hoped that she was okay. They did a pretty good job on the whole drumline thing and Mark gave props to Sam because he wrote all the drumline pieces.

Our next song (I forgot it… I'll add it in tomorrow if I remember), had Alex walk around with a tambourine and dance. I was in the middle of playing when I saw him dance; I burst into laughter along with Niki. We finished up with _Stairway to Heaven_ before our lunch break. Mark's part was beautiful. At least, I loved it. "Alright, guys, you can head out to lunch!" Mark said.

"Be back here at 12:20," Mr. W said as I took out my phone and took it out of sleep mode. The first thing I saw was my background photo, a picture of Chris from art survey class, wearing my thin, white, polka dotted headband, a Christmas gift from Bea. I put it on him yesterday and took a picture of him. I laughed at the picture and checked the time. It was 11:50. I dropped my reed into its case and headed back into the band room, looking for Sam.

I couldn't find Sam, so I headed back to the stage. There were a few teachers there and Devin and Jeremy. Jeremy sat on the risers for the choir and took _The Stool_ to play some drum beats. I sat one riser down, my back facing his. We sat in somewhat silence when I literally had nothing to do. Eventually, Elijah walked in to grab something out of his bag next to his drum set. I looked over and smiled at him, him returning one. This day was getting better and better.

Eventually, Jake walked in as I was half asleep on the risers. I could barely feel my mouth from all of this playing and I stayed up until 1AM playing Club Penguin with my friends. Don't ask why, either. Its fun trolling ten year olds. "Hey, Jake," I said as I sat up.

"Hey," he said.

"How are you?" I asked him.

"Pretty well. So that Elijah guy broke one of his drum sticks and a chunk flew out and hit me in the head," he said as I burst out laughing. "See," he pointed, "You can see it right there on his stage." I looked over to the drum stage and saw a giant piece of wood lying on the floor. I laughed some more.

Soon, a lot of the band came back in. Alex walked up to Elijah's drum set and some of the percussion followed. "You're tempted to play it, aren't you?" Sam asked him.

"Oh, very," Alex answered. "Think he'd mind?"

"Yeah… Don't touch it," Sam said as she turned back to some of her other friends. We crowded around the back and stared at it. It was a dark shade of red and shined under the light. There were at least a billion cords coming from his laptop and mics around him.

"This is such a nice kit," Alex admired, "I really like that hi-hat."

"I wish I knew how to play drum set," I said as I stared at it. Alex put his hand on my back.

"Don't worry, you will one day," he reassured me. I smiled. Mr. W called us back into our seats and Niki came over to me.

"Emily, you need to go in first because you're in the middle," she said.

"Aaahhhh…. Why do _I _sit in the middle…?" I complained. It's my own fault for getting last chair I guess. I got back in my seat and we worked on more music. Mark put the badass violin strap back on and we watched as the trombones decided to do a trombone suicide (if you don't know what that is, YouTube it and watch DCI do it. It's really cool). We all laughed as Mitch was almost hit in the face. All the sections are doing something really awesome… and the oboes just get to sit there. It was almost pathetic.

**Sometime Later…**

Mark called for a five minute break as the choir came to join us for the last hour of the day. I got up and walked to the back. My goal was to talk to, or at least say hi, to Elijah, as long as he didn't run away again. Typical percussionists. Some of the crew put a glass wall behind Elijah, creating a barrier between him and the choir. I saw my friend, Brittany, walk in and stand on the top riser. We were fangirling over Elijah. It's a two day thing, so why the hell not? She smiled and pointed to him. _I know! _I mouthed to her as I turned away and walked up to the drum risers to talk to Elijah. "Hey, Elijah, I'm Emily," I said to him with a smile on my face. He turned away from his laptop and smiled at me.

"Hey, what's up?!" he said enthusiastically.

"Nothing much, just wanted to come and say hi," I said.

"Cool! So, what do you play?" he asked me as he messed with some sound settings on his laptop. It created all the guitar and bass parts and whatever else we needed for the concert on there. That was the main source.

"I play oboe and a little bit of percussion," I told him.

"That's awesome," he replied.

"Yeah! So, are you enjoying yourself? Liking the school?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it's a pretty cool place. I've been staying here a few days prior to this and I like it a lot," he answered. Well, at least someone likes Sussex.

"That's good," I said as someone interrupted me. I turned around and saw Jeremy just inches away from me. He went to go talk to Elijah. I turned to Brittany on the risers, who was flailing around as much as you could in a cramped space.

_GET HIS AUTOGRAPH FOR ME! _She mouthed to me. I smiled.

_I will! _I reassured her as Mr. W and Mark called us back to our seats. I climbed back in as we ran through a few things with the choir. Finally, Mark stopped us and turned to A.J., our first trumpet.

"A.J., I like what I'm hearing! Try a solo for us!" A.J. didn't protest as he raised his trumpet to his mouth and played a little bit of _Stairway to Heaven _for us.

"I give him props; he's been playing all day," Niki said as I agreed with her.

"All the way from… wait- WHERE THE HELL AM I AGAIN?" Mark exclaimed as we burst into laughter. We all shouted, "Sussex," to him. We ran through the rest of rehearsal. Even with the choir having the mic on, the percussion drowned them out. I could barely hear them.

By the time of our last song, my embouchure and inside of my mouth (that's what happens to me if I play oboe for too long) was literally on fire. Miranda called for band buddies today, which means more band afterwards. Yay for me. "Alright, wonderful work, you guys," Mark said. "I have to get a picture. It's on panorama mode, so pose like a rock star!" Niki leaned on my shoulder while I linked my arm with Devin's as we raised our hands into the air. "It's going on Facebook later!" he said. (If you guys are interested, Facebook search: Mark Wood (under musician/band) and we'll be one of his latest posts. The quality really isn't great, but you will get the gist of the set up and the size of the band/choir. You can't really see me, though, not that I'm all that important)

"There's a Band Buddies meeting right after!" Miranda shouted as we all walked into the band room. I take one last glance at Mark, his wife, Laura, and Elijah.

**Band Buddies**

**(This'll be quick, I promise. I need sleep. It's nearing 1AM) **

I joined the meeting after saying goodbye to Brittany. Miranda explained the process of picking out music for their concert and all that crazy stuff. After the meeting, Jeremy, who was my ride again, and I walked out the door and headed to his car. It wasn't as cold as the time we spun out, but the cold still numbed my hands. "That was awesome," Jeremy said.

"Yeah, but I am done playing my oboe for the rest of forever," I said as I hopped over some puddles.

"Oh, please, my hands hurt like hell. I've been playing congas for the past two songs. I didn't know if you could hear me or not," he said.

"Don't worry, I heard you, and I can't feel my mouth," I said. I don't disagree with him that congas hurt your hand after a while, seeing as I play it for jazz, but it doesn't compare playing the oboe for five hours straight.

"Yeah, I can't feel my hands, either," he said.

"Playing an oboe for five hours is pure torture," I argued back. We quit the conversation. It wasn't worth arguing over it.

"I still loved Mr. W's line from yesterday, 'don't worry, if we don't sound good, they can turn us down,'" he said as we both started laughing.

"Heh, yeah, Mr. Skillet," I said. Mr. Skillet was the nickname that Mark gave Jeremy after we couldn't find our nametags and he was wearing his Skillet- _Monster_ shirt.

"Yeahhh…" he said with a smile on his face. "I seriously thought that his son was going to be a complete asshole," he started, "most people his age that are famous are usually assholes."

"Nah, I knew he was nice," I said. "I like him. I think he's cute," I said with a smile on my face. There was a good ten second pause between us.

"Okay, then," he finally answered. We reached the student drive and the busses looked like they were about ready to hit me at any given moment. There was also a car coming straight towards us. "Go," he said as he wanted me to walk in the snow. "Fine, then I'll just cut in front of you," he said as he stepped in front of me. I tugged on his backpack.

"Yeah, you do that. Like I said, I'm going to die in a car accident, I can already feel it," I said.

"Most likely," he said as we crossed the road and headed to his car. He unlocked it and we headed off. We reached the road where we spun out last time. "There's a turn here, the ditch here…" he said and I laughed. "Yes, we reached further than we did last time!" I put a fist up in victory.

"Yes, progress!" I said as we laughed and tried to find our way to Lannon. Eventually, we found it. The two of us found a parking space next to Nick's red truck. I pulled out my drumsticks as Jeremy locked me in the car. I pressed random buttons on the door until he finally opened the door and let me out. "Way to lock me in," I said sarcastically.

"Just get out of the car!" he said with a laugh in his voice. We passed Nick's car and I accidentally nicked it (no pun intended) with my sticks. "Way to go," he said. I answered with a laugh. We passed a pile of stone. "Hey, look, stone!"

"Good observation," I said as we signed into the office. Jonah was holding up the line, signing everyone's name in when he got to mine. "You're never going to spell it, Jonah," I said.

"Just put a 'T' and let's leave," Jeremy suggested as I grabbed a visitor's pass and wondered where the band room was. Mrs. C, who works here as well, gave me her keys if the band room wasn't open. Jeremy and I passed my old fifth grade teacher; Mr. B, as he smiled and said,

"Hey, Em! How are you?!"

"I'm good, you?" I asked. I never went to Lannon; I actually went to Maple, another elementary school in the district. After I graduated elementary school, he was moved to Lannon. The two of us found our way as the band room was already filled with students. The first thing I saw as I walked in was the tiny bass drum. It was about the size of bass 3 at school. Some of the kids were as tall as me, (sad) but Jeremy and I grabbed piano benches and sat down. A kid with a long sleeved orange shirt walked up to us.

"Are you Everett?" Jeremy asked him.

"What?" the kid asked.

"Are you Everett?" he repeated.

"What?" Jeremy gave up and pointed at me with a drumstick.

"Are you Everett?" I said in a louder voice. It was good use for drum majoring.

"Yeah," he said.

"Hi, I'm Jeremy and that's Emily," Jeremy introduced us.

"I heard you guys were in a ditch last time," Everett said. We both nodded. What a pleasant introduction. Devin, who was in charge of the small group (we all split up into different groups), told us what to play. Everett had two snare drums. I couldn't read any of the music (so, guess what I learned today?), so I left it all up to Jeremy. He had a bell set, but we focused mainly on the rhythms on snare and bass.

A little while later, Jeremy decided to teach him flams (They're pretty much the percussion word for grace notes, for all of you non-percussionists). "This is how you do a flam-" Jeremy started but was then cut off by a shouting Everett.

"I _know _how to do flams!" he shouted. Pushy, much?

"Okay, just making sure," Jeremy said.

A little while later, band buddies finally ended and we were in the middle of picking music when Sam L. walked through the door. "They need to go, it ends at 3:15," Sam said as all the kids packed up quickly and ran out the door. The high schoolers were left with an electric upright piano. We crowded around it for a little bit until we walked out the door to leave the school.

"Do you need a ride?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah," I said as we walked to his car. We got in as Jeremy picked out a song. Niki passed us, getting in Nick's car. She gave an odd look and I smiled. "Ha, Niki just gave me a weird look," I told Jeremy as he put his iPod down, rolled down the window and shouted,

"Oh, HELL, NAW, YOU DO NOT GIVE HER WEIRD LOOKS! HELL TO THE NAW!" he shouted in his best Ghetto accent. The three of us burst into uncontrollable laughter. He couldn't even understand what I was saying because I was laughing so hard.

Eventually, we drove off. As he missed the turn to go to my house, I asked him, "Where are we going?"

"Your house," he said.

"You missed the turn."

"No, there's another way. It's longer, I think, but it works," he said as we turned onto Plainview. We ended up making one giant circle. "Pick a song," he said as he handed me his iPod. I scrolled until I got to the band Set it Off (GO LISTEN TO THEM IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY… THEY ARE AMAZING!) And turned on their song, _Plastic Promises. _I was satisfied.

We reached my house when he pulled up my driveway. "See you later," I said as I grabbed my backpack, "Crap, I gotta grab the mail."

"Heh, I'll make sure not to hit you," he said as he scrolled through his iPod.

"Thank you," I said as I ran down the driveway and opened the mailbox. To my luck, there was no mail. I ran back up and his window was pulled halfway down. "No mail," I said and he laughed at me. "See you later," I said again.

"Yeah, see ya," and he backed out. I walked in the garage and closed it.

One day down, one left. Concert tomorrow!

**Okay, can't talk, need sleep. So dead right now. Night.**

**~Tenuto07**


	7. Update

**Helloooooo!**

**So, I know I said I'd put up the Mark Wood concert chapter… but then I was so happy I didn't sleep, then I was sleep deprived for the whole week… and then a month passed… and yeah, now we're off to a new semester of school and I HATE ALGEBRA. –End rant—**

**Here's a little update on the band: we're doing well. Our joint concert is coming up (the 8****th**** graders get to play with the high schoolers). I'm probably not going to be writing a chapter for the next week or so. We have our musical (It's called "Curtains" for anyone who's curious) and we're in the middle of what we like to call, "hell week." Our practice is literally around three or more hours long and it's a lot of work; but it's fun. **

**The pit orchestra and I have been living off of Red Vines for the past three days. Mr. W even bought some for us. He's so awesome. I don't think that the sugar is really good for our instruments… but there's only one way to find out! I think the saddest thing of all of hell week is this fact right here: in the past week and a half, the pit and I have eaten seven pounds of Red Vines. Hilariously sad.**

**Everyone is sleep deprived to the extreme. A few days ago, we all went mentally insane. The practice was 5 ½ hours long with one break for dinner. Everyone was jumping around, playing insanely loud, speeding up, and talking loudly just because we were running off of pure adrenaline. It was horrible! I love everyone and I love being in pit, but I think 5 ½ hours under a stage is a little much.**

**At this rate, you guys might not get a chapter up until maybe next week or so. I honestly haven't been in any mood, whatsoever, to write. We had a few interesting days, which involved Jake singing Old McDonald with a tambourine because he couldn't play the Grand Master scale. I couldn't stop laughing. Life for the Charger Band is really hectic and extremely busy. We're about ready to fall over and sleep for eternity. **

**Today, the eighth graders came over to work on some joint concert stuff. Ever been in a room with ten oboes? Yeah, the worst ever. Don't ever try it!**

**Well, off to musical practice! I hope to update soon, so stay around!**

**~Tenuto07**


	8. Chapter 8

**So, I have accumulated a billion unfinished chapters that I just never finished. It's fun to read them. Anyways, here's what's happening in the Charger band so far:**

**The annual state-wide WSMA (Wisconsin School Music Association) Solo & Ensemble Festival (or s&e as I like to put it) is coming up on March 16****th****. How s&e works is there's three classes of music: Class A, B, and C, A being the hardest and C the easiest. You are graded on a scale of I, II, III, IV, and V. I* (* indicates that you can go to state… like marching band but for concert band instead) being the best, but only achievable if you play a class A piece. A V would be like walking in for the first time and playing your instrument like the first time you've ever touched it. Enough of my blabbing about this; anyway, Sam and I have a class A piece. It's called American Patrol. It's SUPER EXTERMELY catchy. Like, enough for the whole band to hate us for playing it. Mr. W is even banning that song after s&e. It doesn't matter to me; I'm sick of it as well. So, I don't really practice during band class because you can imagine what 100+ students in one room all playing different pieces can sound like. It's like an upgraded version of the Charger band happy birthday. **

**In exactly 29 days, 1 hour, 51 min, and 36.36 seconds, (and counting) the band hits New York! For spring break, we're heading to NY for fiveish days. I'll be there on the 2****nd****-7****th**** of April. I can't wait! I just got back from an itinerary meeting for it. That's what this chapter is about.**

**A little update on me: I've been holding off my best. I had a few relationship problems along the way (My relationships really don't last more than a week. Well, a week if I'm lucky.). Oh, I was also kicked out of Never Ending Apocalypse because they changed their music genre, so apparently a punk/rock band doesn't need a keyboardist anymore. Oh, well, things happen for a reason, I suppose. I'm not really too happy about it, but there's not much I can do. **

**I don't intend for this to be another update chapter, so we're gonna break into the story now! Here we go!**

**New York Information Meeting, 3/4/13**

I jumped out of my dad's Honda Pilot and shut the door. I turned to see Jeremy and his mom walking up. Unlike most normal students (who am I to call the band normal?), my parents didn't come along. I feel that the information from these meetings is more meant for me and the info would never be passed to me if my parents went.

I opened the door, only to be awaited by Bea, Sam, Emma, and Lauren. For the trip, I'm rooming with Sam, Emma, and Lauren. Bea, Niki, and Shyanne will be in another room. When we arrive, we'll be throwing a Skype party with my room, Bea's room, and Jeremy's room (He's rooming with Kevin, sophomore tuba Matt, and Mitch. Four per room, because Mr. W wouldn't allow the seven of us girls in one room).

Soon, Niki joined us and everyone headed into the choir room, where all band meetings were held. On the risers below I sat Lauren, Niki, and Sam. I sat right above them; next to Bea and Jeremy. Emma soon took a seat next to Jeremy. Our group was complete. Bea threw her backpack on the chair next to her and put her feet up. "This chair is for my mom!" she exclaimed.

"That's one way to save a spot, Bea," I said with a smile and a slight laugh.

"Yup!" she said. Her mom didn't walk through the door for another five minutes. On our way in, we were supposed to grab an itinerary sheet. Jeremy, nor Emma, grabbed one, so they ended up stealing mine. I looked over Jeremy's arm and read the sheet with him. We were leaving at 11:30 on April 2nd. It said it was a sixteen hour drive from the tiny, little village of Sussex, WI, to giant city, New York. We also had three hours for meal stops, and one hour for bus driver change. This would definitely take at least eighteen to twenty hours. I've driven to NY before. These numbers are lies!

"Hello, welcome, ladies and gentleman to our band booster meeting!" Mr. W said at a podium on the ground. "We're here to talk to you about the final itinerary for this upcoming spring trip! We'll keep this short because I know you students have homework to do…" there were claps from the students and parents.

"Pff, I don't even do my homework," I said, "Homework is a joke."

"Or, better yet, you have practicing to do!"

"HAH, Mr. W, that's even a bigger joke," I said.

"Hahaha…" Emma did a sarcastic laugh, "I practice so much," she said. The eight of us burst out laughing.

"Okay, first things first, what we're doing. As you can see on the schedule, we're having a rehearsal at 10:30 because it'll be around a week without any practice. At 11:30, we'll board and 12:30 we'll leave. I'll probably get some percussionists to help load after they have free time."

"Percussionists never have free time!" Jeremy exclaimed as I smiled. Mr. W seemed to ignore his outburst and continued on.

"We'll be riding on some really nice coach busses…" Mr. W continued as the eight of us engaged in a talk about power strips.

"I'm going to bring a power strip with me," Jeremy said.

"Why…?" Niki asked with a smile on her face.

"Because, don't you think that everyone will fight over the outlets on the bus? Everyone will be on their laptops!" Jeremy said.

"Wait, wait, wait, what is a power strip?" I asked stupidly.

"It's one of those things where you plug it into a wall and you can plug other things into it." Niki explained.

"Oh, is it one of those things with the multiple outlets?" I asked.

"Yup," Jeremy continued.

"Why do you want one? Are you going to steal everyone's outlets in the hotel?" Niki asked.

"I could see him with a ton of extension cords, running throughout the hotel and asking people if he could use the outlets in their rooms as he has the cords going throughout the hallways in the hotels we stay at," I imagined Jeremy running around with bright orange extension cords throughout a hotel. The three of us burst into laughter.

"Just watch him throw the cords in the hallway and ask, 'hey, can I borrow your outlet?'" Niki added. We laughed even more. Mr. W was shooting us evil glares and we all turned around.

"If you bring any, I'll lock them in my room," I said with a smile.

"I'm gonna break your door down," Jeremy said as we both laughed. Mr. W continued on as the eight of us randomly burst into uncontrollable laughter throughout the entire meeting. In the middle of the meeting, Sam's mom's cell phone rang loudly. Mr. W just laughed and said,

"Well, now we all know where Sam gets it from." Everyone in the choir room laughed. The meeting continued on for a while. My friends and I mostly stupidly commented on things Mr. W brought up. "Your child will need formal, but not fancy, clothing. So, you can't show up in a Skillet T-shirt, black jeans, and almost midnight black tennis shoes, Jeremy N," Mr. W said as he stared directly into his eyes. I laughed as none of the parents, besides Jeremy's mom, got the joke. Jeremy usually dresses in a band tee, dark jeans, and black tennis shoes, his Hamilton Drumline jacket, all topped with his headphones draped around his neck that blasts music so loud, I can hear him down the hallway if there are little people.

"Continuing," Mr. W said continued for most of the time. We made more stupid comments and talked about rooming.

"Hey, Emma, wanna share a bed and Sam and Emily can have the other?" Lauren asked Emma.

"Sure!" Emma said enthusiastically.

"You can do what we're doing," Jeremy suggested.

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"The upperclassmen get the beds and the lowerclassmen get the floor." There were two queen sized beds per room.

"You guys are mean!" I said.

"Yeah! And besides, Sam's our only upperclassmen!" Lauren added.

"What, so are we gonna push the beds together, have Sam sleep on both and we get the ground?" They laughed at my joke. Sam smiled at the idea and opened her mouth to say something. I pointed my pen at her and said, "Don't you get ideas from this now!" we laughed and were hushed by the evil glares of Mr. W.

"Emma," I whispered loudly after a little while.

"Yeah?"

"Should I bring my HDMI cable to NY with me so we can watch anime in our hotel room?" I asked. I recently got her hooked to anime.

"Yes! You should!" she exclaimed. "Macy said we should watch _Maid-Sama!_" Emma said. "She said it was really good!"

"Yeah, I heard that one was good as well! Okay, we'll add that to the list!" Emma and I kept a list of all the animes we wanted to watch.

"Awesome! She said we have to watch it; it's really good apparently," Emma continued as Jeremy put up his arms as a barrier to stop our conversation. He knows I'm into anime and all, but he's not, which is one reason why I'm bringing him to an anime convention next year. I laughed and tried to wrestle his arms down, but he's much stronger than me. I slapped him and said,

"Fine!" we continued to listen to the meeting. Finally, someone brought up something about the restaurants that we're eating at. We're eating at some awesome places, like SPQR Sal Anthony's, Naples 45, and Planet Hollywood. But, for bus meals, we have to pay for ourselves. "I'll buy you some Mtn Dew before we leave," I said to Jeremy, thinking back to our Eau Claire trip for jazz band last year.

-Unnecessary flashback to last March during the UW Eau Claire Jazz Fest-

It was Sunday morning and the thirty jazz students who traveled to Eau Claire with me were all exhausted. Finally, Mr. W called for a lunch break, where we stopped in the middle of a small town to eat. All the girls (7 of us, including me) and a few of the guys decided to go to Pizza Hut. As we walked into the restaurant, Jeremy was suddenly stopped by a cooler of two liter bottles of soda. As I walked further in, I could hear him ask the waitress how much each bottle was.

I sat down in my chair, across from Angela (sophomore, clarinet) and next to nobody. I was at the edge. Finally, Jeremy joined us, diagonally from me at the end of the table. The waitress walked up to us. "Anything for you guys to drink?" she asked politely, ready to take our order. The eight to ten students with us all ordered something to drink. I, too, ordered one. "And you sir?" she addressed Jeremy.

"NOPE, I'm okay," he said as he lifted a two liter bottle of Mtn Dew onto the table and it hit the table with a loud thud. I smiled as the waitress walked away, but burst out laughing when he opened the bottle and stuffed a straw in the tube. It was probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen when it came to soda.

-Unnecessary flashback over-

Anyway, I referred back to his soda story from Eau Claire (Oh, man, I have so many great stories from Eau Claire… including one where I slammed a door on Mr. W's face… Yeah, I'll save that for another chapter). We couldn't stop laughing at the memory. Soon, someone asked about the luggage. "WELLLLL…. Mr. W," Sam said. She wanted to bring a Nike duffle bag of just food. Legit. Food. Just food. And by the way Sam packs, we could be stranded in the desert for three days and still have food. What takes her ten minutes to pack can take me three days. I'm horrible at packing. Terrible. It took me eleven hours to pack for a week in Vegas. Okay, I'm off topic now.

"Each student is allowed one suitcase for the week and one carry-on item. Think of it as an airplane ride," Mr. W said.

"Without the airplane," I said quietly to myself.

"What about electronics?" someone in the audience asked.

"Yes, electronics… No electronics should be without headphones. Every student turned towards Jeremy. Like I said before, music was constantly blasting out of his ear buds.

"Hey, I wear ear buds!" he defended himself. I just sat there laughing as the parents looked confused.

"You should get sound isolating ear buds… just a thought," Bea said as the students burst into laughter.

"Yes… I don't want to be sharing the same… musical taste as other students," Mr. W said. We couldn't stop laughing because his words were true. I don't mind his musical taste; actually, I love it, but Mr. W's words remained true.

We sat through the rest of the meeting answering questions. Lauren had Emma ask a stupid question about continental breakfast. Soon, the meeting was over. I asked Mr. W about how much money I should bring. His answer wasn't very good, though.

"Bring, like, $500 with you," Emma suggested.

"Heh, yeah, if your parents give you that much," Mr. W said. I laughed and walked away to join Niki in the hall. We talked for a little bit; she was forced to stay behind due to her mom wanting to stay for the rest of the band boosters meeting. I waved goodbye and headed outside.

**It's about time I upload something! Hope you enjoyed my idiot, but loveable, friends join a band meeting! Thought I'd upload something because it's been a while. Have a wonderful… day/afternoon/night or whenever you're reading this!**


End file.
